Faux Dragon
Faux Dragons, sometimes called Whelps, are creatures that resemble normal dragons but are only the size of an average cat or small dog. With four legs and a pair of wings, they are a minaturized version of their ancient cousins. Those whelps who have been domesticated can double their wild-kin sizes thus becoming a rather large 'pet'. Physiology Faux dragons, like "real" dragons are, essentially, a warm-blooded reptile. Like Dragons and Drakes they possess the ability to breathe fire by way of two glands on the lower back part of their jaw that excreete a chemical that when combined in the air will produce a napalm-like stream of fire. The range of this firey blast varies depending on the type of faux dragon. Faux dragons also possess an above-normal intelligence for animals which would place them around the age of a three year-old human child. They are able to understand and process simple commands and, thanks to their phenomoneal gift of mimicry, respond with a dozen words or so. Faux Dragons will mature from hatching to being able to hunt within two months - in which time they will learn to fly and then hunt from other members of their troop. By the end of their nine months of life a male faux dragon will be able to and feel the urge to mate.Females, however, will take nearly a full year if not a little longer to go into heat. Female Faux dragons will go into heat twice a year; usually once in early spring and in early fall. This allows them the potential of producing two clutches a year though only those who did not successfully mate in spring will go into heat in fall. Once a female has successfully mated she will lay her clutch of 4-6 eggs within four weeks. The eggs will then harden and mature in the nest for another month. Female whelps are always easily recognized by their head sails. Female whelplings have lighter shades of their colored webbing between the ridges of their head sales as well as their wings. Ecology Behavior Faux Dragons can range in personality from being similar to the common house cat to something akin to a guard dog. Whelps prefer to be in lofty positions so that they can look down upon their terrain. Given the option, a whelp will find the tallest object in their immediate vecinity and fly to the top of it to perch. When they sleep they will find a sheltered, protected location and curl up much like a cat or a dog. A favorite activity of these dragons is sunning themselves. They will find a high place to perch that is exposed to sunlight and often spread their wings to catch as much sunlight as possible. A favorite place is even better if a vertical surface is nearby to reflect more light and solar heat. Faux dragons are incredibly gifted mimics - able to reproduce a multitude of sounds including various one-word phrases in almost any language they hear. Well-trained faux dragons have been known to learn what some words mean and repeat them around humanoids - or other faux dragons. Example: If a faux dragon learns the word 'food' and then associates the word with eating (or being given food to eat) it can then repeat the word to whomever gave it food in the hopes of getting more. It can also teach the word to other faux dragons so that they can exploit that newly found source of food - much to the ire of many farmers. Environment Faux Dragons inhabit temperate forests, marshes, mountains and coastal areas in the wild, but they can often be found in nearly environment once domesticated. Diet Faux Dragons are basically omnivores. In the wild they will eat everything from small rodents to insects, fruit and the occasional snake. Domesticated Faux Dragons enjoy a wide variety of foods to eat, depending on their owners, but are typically fed scrap meat. One dietary restriction that Faux Dragons have discovered has been cheeze. Any kind of fermented diary product will cause severe gastric distress and explosive diarhea. No owner in his right mind would ever feed cheeze to a Faux Dragon twice. Mating Female Faux Dragons experience a periodic mating urge. During a year a female dragonette will rise roughly twice per year in spring and fall. When a female comes into estrus, interested males compete to catch her in a mating flight. Usually, the female chooses the male who impresses her the most with his skill in the flight, although inexperienced females may be caught before making their choice. The pair actually mate in midair; thus, the higher they get during the flight, the longer their mating can last. It is guessed that longer matings result in larger clutches. Although they do remain together for the birth of the clutch, Blink dragon pairs are not life-long. A mated pair will usually last just short of a month - until the young are old enough to fend for themselves. Colonies Groups of Faux Dragons gather in numbers of up to a dozen or so and are called Troops. Troops are usually lead by a strong male with a few lesser males and several females. Troops A troop of wild, green whelps, for example, will establish a colony wherever there's enough food to sustain them. As they are carnivores, many human farmers have figured out that if you attract a troop to your fields they will keep the rodent population from eating your crop. The problem for the farmers is that once you have attracted a troop - it's difficult to get rid of them. A common means of attracting a troup of greens is to tie some shiney bits of metal into the branches of a tree and leave some fresh meat nearby. One of the male scouts will surely see the shiney bits and once he's gotten a belly full of meat he'll fly back to the troop to inform them of his discovery. This will usually involve the scout male attempting to get a lesser female to follow him back to the shiney tree with the food. If he is successful in luring one of the lesser females way from the colony he might be able to get a new troop started with the lesser female. As whelpling society is matriarchal there will always be an Alpha female in the troop as well as a Beta female and several other 'lesser' females. Each of the lesser females would like nothing better than to establish their own troop. By splintering off from another troop, the lesser female will attract several of the lesser, scout males to follow her. Should she decide that the area around the shiney tree is acceptable and a suitable nesting area can be located she will find herself a perch upon the nesting tree and trumpet out a call letting any other female know that she is claiming that region and that should any other female should either stay away or present herself as a 'lesser' member of the new troop. Nests Faux Dragon females will build a nest of nearly anything to keep the eggs gathered together. Depending on the type (color), their nests can be located in a cave, mountain cliff, coastal area, or in tree tops. Once the nest is created and a layer of debris is gathered, she will lay a clutch of between four to eight eggs and then pile on more and more debris until she has a small aerial mound. For the next month she will have to carefully monitor the temperature of the mound to ensure that the eggs to not get too hot or too cold. She and the male will take turns watching the mound while the other hunts. It is not unheard of for Troops to clutch collectively within a single nest or in a few nests in a small area. Should the nesting grounds be threatened, the Faux Dragons will each grab an egg and fly away to safety. It is in this way that people are able to claim the dragonling's eggs for themselves. Simply startle the troop and threaten the nest and wait for them to fly off with most of the eggs. There are usually one or two left behind that couldn't be grabbed. Young Whelps After the eggs have hatched the young will be incredibly hungry The mother will be able to hear their small yelps and noises and will bring what food she can and leave it for them at the edge of the nest. Newly hatched whelps are incredibly hungry and will often eat as much food as they can stomach before passing out to sleep it off. Whelplings (a term used to describe a whelp during their first year), will often need (or want) to eat nearly a quarter their weight in food a day for the first few weeks. Eventually getting to a balanced weight around six months after birth where they eat only once a day. First Flight Two months after they've hatched, the young faux dragons are capable of short flights. During this first phase of development they've put on about half of their adult body weight and their wings have grown strong enough to support them. Colors Black Black Whelps are a variety commonly found in marsh lands and swamps. Black as pitch, the whelps are smaller and more playful than their Green and Blue cousins. They are sometimes referred to as 'Cave Whelps' because of their favorite nesting ground. Black whelps resemble bats in their flight and habitat. They are also similar in that they have the best hearing of all the faux dragons. Green Green Whelps are commonly found in lush forests such as the Willows, the Brightwoods and some sections of the North Marches . Whelps of almost every kind have been over-hunted in the South Marches and typically have abandoned the area. Green Whelps are the best immitators of the whole Whelp family - able to master nearly a dozen words of whatever language they're exposed to. Blue Blue Whelps are found along the coasts and prefer to fish in the ocean. Their cerulean skin makes for excellent concealment as they hover over the water. Blue Whelps have the best eye sight of all faux dragons - able to pick out a fish below the water at nearly a hundred yards. 'Red' Red Whelps , sometimes called Mountain Whelps, are the second largest of the Faux Dragons though the largest of the 'known' variety. Red whelps have the best sense of smell of all other whelps. This skill allows them to detect and follow prey throught the mountainous regions where they live. 'White' White Whelps , sometimes called Frost Whelps, are the largest and the rarest seen of the Faux Dragons. They prefer the isolated cold of the Northern Reaches though they do migrate to the Ivory Plains durring the heavy winters. White whelps have the best sense of camoflague amongst the other whelps. Their motled-white skin can be subtly shifted by factors such as mood and activity to become perfectly white or a blue-white mix which allows them to blend in with the glacial ice of the Northern Reaches. Domestication Domesticated Faux Dragons reach much larger sizes than those in the wild. A typical wild whelp will only reach the size of a small dog where as a domesticated whelp will easily double the size with proper diet. 'History' Green and Blue Whelps are commonly domesticated as winged messengers - able to carry letters and small items in leather cases strapped onto their backs between their wings. Blues are good for long-distance flight because of their increased wing-span. Greens are prized as personal messengers as they possess a keener sense of smell and can pick out individuals to deliver a message rather than simply flying to a building (like a blue). Because of this many of the Priories and temples of Gizad will have a special tower to house the whelps that are used to transport messages. This tower is called the Azure Tower (as blue whelps are often used for long-distance messages). See also: Messenger Whelp 'From the Wild' There are two ways of securing a faux dragon pet from the wild; either as a hatchling or as an egg. Faux Dragon hatchlings can be domesticated if caught and tamed within the first four weeks of life; essentially before their first flight. This usually means that one must find them still in the nest or freshly hatched. This is the most difficult of collection due to the fact that the faux dragon hatchling will think you're a predator and sound a warning to the nearby Troop. This means that you could have up to a dozen faux dragons attacking you with their sharp claws or breathing fire down your back as you attempt to climb down a tree with a squirming hatchling in your arm. Another, more common method, is to steal faux dragon eggs. There is a slight problem with this method as well. You must wait until the eggs have hardens before taking them. Eggs, when freshly laid, are still leathery. The eggs still need the warmth of the parent to assist in their incubation. Only once the eggs have hardened, in about two week's time, can you successfully steal the egg and have it hatch. Once stolen, the egg will need to be placed in a surrogate nest and kept warm. This can be done with either a blanket or perhaps even keeping it near the hearth. The heat should be kept as constant as possible. It doesn't have to be blazingly hot - just warm. It is thought that if the temperature varies too often the faux dragon will hatch as a male; if it is maintained it will be female. Many Priories will buy faux dragon eggs from those who are brave enough to steal them. The occasional wild faux dragon will help maintain the strength of a priory's colony. 'Domestication by Color' Black whelps, being the smallest, are the most communal of all whelps and therefore make the best pets as they will rarely leave your side. This is only partially based on their innate communal nature - most of their 'clinginess' is due to their desire to share the body heat of their clutch mates or other whelps in their troop. Black Whelps have often been known to sneek into their owner's bed while they are sleeping to snuggle for warmth. Green Whelps are a commonly domesticated variety of whelp. In fact due to their size, intelligence and 'pack-like' mentality, they are said to make the best pets of the faux dragon family. Found in the forests, they hunt in groups to collect food and bring it back to their young. As a domesticated whelp they enjoy playing fetch and are rather playful by their nature. Blue Whelps are less common and tend to be a bit more independent of a pet. However, once domesticated and the bond between the whelp and its owner is made, a blue is among the most loyal of all the whelps. Red whelps, being the second largest and the largest seen outside of the Northern Reaches, are large. They are, in the wild, the equivalent of a cougar with wings. As size dictates communality, red whelps are the most solitary and the least willing to be domesticated. White whelps, sometimes called Frost Whelps, are rare and incredibly independent. They are so seldomly domesticated that they are assumed to be resistant to the process and shun any attempt to control them. Largest of the whelps, they have a solitary life of hunting and mating with little need for any other than their mate. Reception As whelps are usually only found in the wild, the Kels only rarely see wild whelps near their cities and then it would probably be a blue here and there. The wild whelps in the north were seen as helpful pets to have around the farms and towns as they can, if handled properly, be used to eradicate vermine such as stirge wigs and keep any rodent population in check around the fields. They are, to most, a necessary annoyance that can occasionally get out of hand. In th south, however, it's a much darker story. As the South Marches have all but been controlled by the Order of the Blazing Sun since the Burning Times, whelps are seen as tiny dragons and, since dragons (drakes) are thought to be signs of ill-omen and dangerous magic, they have been hunted nearly to extinction. Caves where blacks would commonly nest were considered perfect meeting places for all those up to infernalist magic so they were usually burned out or filled in with rubble. Should a troops of greens be found near a farmer's fields, the OBS would suspect the farmer of being in some kind of dark bargain with a witch (as witches were known to use whelps as messengers). Therefore many farmers would burn out any nesting trees they came across. Blues were easily poisoned with tainted fish. Anyone in the south marches seen showing anything but outright hatred towards the whelps was seen as suspect. Category:Faux Dragon Category:Fauna/Pet